SACRAMENTO - Democrats control all statewide offices, rule the Legislature and control every tool of government afforded by that power, but possibly the biggest decision facing California in a generation could lie with Republican state Sen. Jim Brulte.

Shrewd politicking, motivated by a desire to right the state's fiscal ship and cure a sputtering economy, has positioned the Senate minority leader from Rancho Cucamonga as the gatekeeper for the 2003-04 budget and perhaps to deal with the record $38 billion deficit that goes with it.

"I want to get a budget done; I want to get it done on time. But I want it to be a budget that begins the process of reducing the deficit, not one that just papers over it again,' Brulte said last week during a lengthy interview in his spacious Capitol office.

Brulte sent Sacramento into a tizzy earlier this month when he told a joint meeting of Assembly and Senate Republicans he would actively work to unseat any GOP legislator who votes for a budget that includes tax increases.

Assembly Speaker Herb J. Wesson, D-Los Angeles, fumed that Brulte was playing politics with California's future, and Democratic Gov. Gray Davis accused him of damaging budget negotiations and jeopardizing the chances of his signing a spending plan by the constitutional June 30 deadline.

"Sen. Brulte was trying to make Democrats understand that they have to come to him and (Assembly Minority Leader) Dave Cox and not go to weak-kneed Republicans to negotiate a budget,' California Republican Party spokesman Rob Stutzman said.

Passing a budget and raising taxes requires a two-thirds vote of the Legislature, which means the eventual 2003-04 spending plan must be supported by at least six Republicans in the Assembly and two in the Senate.

Nowhere near that number have indicated any interest in tax hikes, which Brulte, the consummate tactician, already knew.

But he wanted Davis, Wesson and other Democrats to know that offering pork-barrel projects and political payoffs to Republicans in exchange for supporting a budget laden with tax hikes, a successful strategy in recent years, would not work this time around.

Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a public policy professor at USC who follows state politics closely, said Brulte is determined not to have a repeat of 2002, when Republican state Sen. K. Maurice Johannessen, now the governor's secretary of veterans affairs, voted with Senate Democrats for a budget loaded with tax increases.

"They paid him off with a cabinet position,' said Brulte, who still gets visibly irritated whenever recalling Johannessen's defection. 'We will deliver the votes'

Last week, Democratic state Treasurer Phil Angelides lambasted Brulte for his unwillingness to raise taxes, all but accusing him of obstructing the passage of an on-time budget to aid the recall campaign being waged against Davis.

"I'm deeply troubled right now that Republicans in the Legislature have made a calculated and tragic decision to hold up this budget for the purposes of promoting this recall,' Angelides said during an appearance before the Sacramento Press Club.

When reporters ask Brulte if that and similar accusations have merit, the 47-year-old often appears frustrated, at first. Then he methodically presents his position, and notes it has not changed.

"The recall does not affect our position. When we get a budget that meets our criteria, we will deliver the votes for it,' Brulte said.

The senator has not voted for a Davis budget in three years because he believes the governor and his "liberal allies' in the Legislature have spent more money in ongoing programs than the state can afford, and have asked the taxpayers and the private-sector economy to foot the bill each time it has come due.

Brulte is fond of saying the state has a spending problem, not a revenue problem. He insists raising taxes will only exacerbate a situation that has seen California's deficit explode from near $25 billion last year to about $38 billion this year, with more predicted at least four years out.

Cutting programs, however painful, is a better option than raising taxes, Brulte said. Higher taxes will further retard a state economy with among the highest unemployment rates in the nation and a broken workers' compensation system that is driving businesses and business expansion to other states.

"We will have a budget when the people who have written the last three budgets and have bankrupted this state realize they have to stop,' Brulte told reporters a week ago when asked what conditions are necessary for a deal.

State Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, may be as annoyed with Brulte's stand on taxes as any Democrat in Sacramento, but he does not question the sincerity of his motives.

A liberal and possibly the most powerful legislator in Sacramento, Burton calls Brulte's philosophy "bizarre,' but says the senator is a problem-solver who, like him, is trying to do what he thinks is best for California.

"I get along with Jim because he doesn't double-cross, he doesn't go back on his word and does what he says he is going to do,' Burton said Thursday.

Crafting a solution

Using Davis' budget plan as a base, Republicans have argued that spending cuts should at least be on a par with the amount proposed by the governor. Democrats would like to see fewer program reductions and more tax increases.

Many political analysts believe bridging the gulf depends on Brulte and Burton, among the few from opposing parties who have the experience and skill plus a good working relationship necessary to negotiate an agreement.

"If there is a budget compromise, it will be one crafted by John Burton and Jim Brulte,' Jeffe said.

Though apparently surprised by the firestorm he created by throwing down the gauntlet on tax increases, Brulte has remained steadfast.

Protests in front of his Rancho Cucamonga district office and criticism from other quarters have not altered his position that spending must be reduced and businesses must be spared further government meddling if California is to regain its competitive advantage.

"Gov. Davis and his liberal allies have bankrupted this state, and somebody has to say: It ends. It ends now. I'm proud to say it,' Brulte said.